This week I ran the online kickoff for a large workshop I’m hosting here in Seattle next week.

I asked participants whether they’d heard of the Pyramid Principle. A few had. A few others said they have a skill built into their in-house AI tool that ‘does it for them’.

It reminded me of something I keep running into.

AI can sharpen my thinking but can’t think for me, which is a problem if I need to defend my AI-crafted point of view in person.

And yet, I am a huge fan. Here’s how I’m currently thinking about AI in my business.

I use AI to sharpen my thinking and help me move more quickly.

My goal is to use AI to make me smarter and more efficient. I want it to free my time from administrative dross so I can think. And specifically, to think better.

Given I work solo a lot, having a thought partner ‘right beside me’, on call 24/7, is golden.

Every time I prepare an important communication (including this one 😉), I use my several AI friends to brainstorm, find references, check data, proofread (wow, they are so much better at it than I am!), and give me an executive review of my material when asked.

But notice: it’s my messaging. My ideas. My judgement (flawed though it might be).

But using AI brings hidden traps which, being hidden, are hard to avoid. Here are three that come to mind:

1. You skip your own decision-making journey. Preparing a doc or deck isn’t just about the document. It’s about working out what you think. If AI writes it for you, how well do you really know the content? Will you be able to defend your ideas when leaders ask tricky questions?

2. AI skills solve the easy part. Once your ideas are clear, a Pyramid Principle skill might be quite handy if it’s coded well enough. But getting the ideas clear is the hardest part. Writing is easy once you know what to say. But what you say must be useful, interesting and helpful … And only you and your decision-makers know your situation well enough to know if your message is compelling or just clear.

3. Polished drafts are harder to review than rough ones. You discuss a topic with Copilot and ask it to write the doc. Within seconds you’re reading a beautifully crafted piece. You skim it, think, ‘That looks great,’ and hit send.
   It might be terrific, too. But beautifully written work is harder to review than poorly written work because it sounds so smooth. The rough edges that would normally make you stop and think have been sanded away.

So, test every idea, not just the prose, before hitting send on your next draft, whether AI wrote it or you did.

1. Are the ideas genuinely MECE (mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive)?

2. Does the argument not only sound good but also hold up under scrutiny?

3. Will it land with your audience and get you the fast response you need?

4. Could you defend every point of it on the fly if senior leaders pushed back?

If you’re unsure of any of these, beware. Your draft might be clear, but is it compelling?

Final thought.

I’m curious. Are your Skills doing more heavy lifting for you than I’m giving them credit for? Do let me know if I’m wrong. I’m curious to hear about your experience.

More soon,
Davina

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